Vicús culture
The Vicús culture (named after a small town in northern Peru , about 40 km west of Piura ) belonged to an archaeologically poorly dated period, around the 5th century BC. BC to the 6th century AD It belongs to the so-called classical pre-Columbian cultures , the center of which was apparently the high valleys of Piuras , which, however, probably spread to the north, to today's southern Ecuador , and south to the Lambayeque - Valley.
Vicús art
The richness and versatility of Vicús art, which was only discovered during the looting of hundreds of graves around 1960, point to two different origins, one possibly from Ecuador , the other local. In fact, there are two traditional styles in Vicús pottery that, while both representing the same concept of burial, are completely different.
• The one, Vicús-Vicús , similar to the Ecuadorian style, stands out for its unpolished ceramics, or the absence of proportions in the depiction of people or animals, the disregard for natural forms, often due to simple forms and elaboration: one finds predominantly a rough design of people or animals, adorned with smoke, which is brought out with white paint.
• The other, Vicús-Moche , shows a design and shapes that seem to come straight from the Mochica culture. According to the Peruvian archaeologist Luis Guillermo Lumbreras , the Mochicas were socially and politically advanced and could have subjugated the people of Vicús and imposed their artistic style on them. For centuries the Vicús region was an important exchange point between northern Peru and southern Ecuador, and even southern Colombia. This diverse culture stands out in metallurgy , e.g. B. in the processing of copper , arsenic bronze and gold-copper compounds, in which countless shapes were processed, in the techniques and shapes used and through the influence of various meridional or northern styles.
literature
- Hans-Dietrich Disselhoff : Vicús. A newly discovered ancient Peruvian culture . Mann, Berlin 1971, ISBN 3-7861-3005-1
